The 1st Federal Court of Santos annulled the regulation issued by the Santos Port Authority (APS) that required a report on the control and treatment of ballast water as a condition for ships to dock at the Port of Santos.
Read more on correspondent Brazil P&I circular here.
Background
On 11 April 2024, the APS issued its new regulation titled “Standard for Control of Management and Conformity of Ballast Water from Ships Operating in the Organised Port of Santos“, coded NAP.SUMAS.OPR.023.2024. This regulation mandates that a private company accredited by the port authority must attest that a ship complies with the ballast water regulations under the BWM Convention, NORMAM-401/DPC, and ANVISA Resolution RDC 72/2009, as applicable.
In addition to statements of compliance issued by classification societies, APS now demands licensed companies to issue their statements of compliance (referred to as AC-BWM) stating whether the vessel’s BWMS has been “approved” or “disapproved”. Under the regulation, apart from the obligation to upload documents on the PSP system, the agents must email the ballast water-related documentation directly to the licensed company, which will have 24 hours to analyse the case and issue the AC-BWM for the agents to upload on the PSP, allowing the ship to obtain permission from the port authority to enter the port and berth. This came into effect from 28th Aug 2024.
9 September 2024: Due user complaints on overlapping regulations, excessive bureaucracy, and high costs for compliance led to the National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq) suspending the rule.
24 December 2024: National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq) ordered the annulment of the resolution by the Santos Port Authority (APS) that required ships docking at the Santos quay to present a compliance certificate for ballast water disposal.
13 February 2025: The rule requiring ships docking at the Port of Santos to present a certificate of compliance with international ballast water disposal regulations, which had been suspended in December last year, was reinstated on 13 February 2025.
Courtesy: NorthStandard P & I Club